


Fire and Ice

by Queen_of_the_Crows



Category: Dragon Age (Video Games), Dragon Age - All Media Types, Dragon Age II
Genre: Alternate Universe - Avvar, Angst, Avvar Culture and Customs, Combat, Denial of Feelings, Eventual Happy Ending, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Falling In Love, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Smut, Slow Build, Slow Burn, Smut, avvar hawke
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-08-30
Packaged: 2019-04-19 10:10:43
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14235003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Queen_of_the_Crows/pseuds/Queen_of_the_Crows
Summary: This is my Avvar Hawke alternate universe. Hawke was never from Lothering and she never ended up in Kirkwall, instead she was born to the Avvar of the Frostback Mountains, daughter to the Thane of Clan Hawkehold.CHARACTER NOTES:Most of the characters from Dragon Age 2 are also there in one way or the other with the exception of Isabela and Sebastian. Leandra's name i changed to Cathala and Malcolm's name i changed to Yoren. Both parents and both twins are still alive, at least for now. Anders came to the clan when he escaped the circle the final time because he knew Templars were unwelcome in the Frostbacks. Merrill's parents came to the clan when they were young and had to leave their Dalish clan because they had too many mages, Merrill was born into the Avvar clan. Varric is the clans contact to the Merchant's Guild and he sells them wares they can't make on their own and is a friend to everyone there. All of the other characters were born into the Avvar clan.





	1. The Man in the Snow

Everyone knows that Fereldan is especially cold in winter but none more so than the Avvar who call the Frostback Mountains their home. Ygritte perched in the low hanging branches of a large tree, her leather and heavy fur armor protecting against the harsh Fereldan winter while the light mail underneath protected her from battle, the white and grey of the fur obscuring her from view, the large hood concealing her fiery red hair. She took a deep breath of the cold evening air and listened for any sounds made beyond those of her own hunting party, as Master of the Hunt it was her duty to ensure a safe and successful trip. At the sound of the hawk’s cry, she cast her gaze to the skies and briefing spotted the outline of her clan’s hold beast and her hunting companion as he circled her once before moving off to her right. He had found something. She dropped from the branch, her boots barely making a sound as they hit the snow. She already had an arrow notched and her bow held low against her body ready to pulled quickly and fired as she moved silently through the trees.   
“Sister, over here!” Carver yelled.  
Her younger brother’s voice came from the same direction the hawk had flown towards meaning they had discovered the same thing but the fact that he called out at all was strange as it would have spooked whatever they were stalking; that meant that something was wrong. She quickly replaced the arrow in it's quiver and slung the bow across her back as she took off running towards his voice.   
When she found Carver, the rest of their hunting party was with him as well, heading his call for her just as she had. They were all gathered in a small clearing, not much larger than a small room, standing around a dark shape in the snow. Carver looked up as she entered and he seemed equal parts concerned and confused. From where she entered, all she could see of the form was black and what she thought was a strange blue glow but it could have also been her mind. She walked closer and the hunters parted for her fully revealing what it was her brother found.   
It was a man, or rather an elf, dressed all in some sort of strange black spiky armor and a black cloak and nothing else. Ygritte was astonished to see that he wore no shoes and had much of his arms uncovered as well, however, neither of those things were the strangest. He had white hair, as white as the snow he laid in, and the blue glow she saw wasn't a trick of her mind but an actual glow coming from a series of tattoos covering his body. She wandered closer and dropped to her knee beside him as she pushed her hood back for a better view. She couldn't imagine why any lowlander would brave the Frostbacks let alone someone so underdressed and unprepared. She gently placed a hand on his neck looking for any sign of life. She was rewarded with a brief intense glow from the makings surrounding her hand and the feel of a faint pulse beneath it; her keen eyes also noticing a small puff of air as he exhaled.  
“He's still alive!” Ygritte exclaimed in utter amazement. “Carver help me.” She told her brother as she grabbed one of the elf’s arms and threw it over her shoulder as he moved to do the same. “We have to take him back to the hold.”   
“Ashildr, run ahead and tell my father and get Anders. Tell him to prepare my room with a fire and any extra furs we can spare along with all the healing elements we have. I don't know what he may need.”  
“As fast as I can Ygritte.” Ashildr told her already taking off towards Hawkehold.  
Once again their hawk cried from above as he too flew off towards home.   
“Grab his sword.” Carver told one of the other hunters. “A man shouldn't be without a weapon.” 

The hunting party made the journey home in record time despite the burden of carrying an unconscious man. It must have been their desire that he not die while they attempted to rescue him. Yoren, Hawkehold’s Thane and Ygritte’s father met them as they entered the hold wearing a look of concern. He moved quickly to his children while everyone else dispersed.  
“How long has he been like this?” Their father asked as he moved to get a closer look.  
“We don't know.” Ygritte bit her bottom lip. “Carver found him and called me but his heartbeat was already slow and his breath weak. His skin was cold to the touch but he still lived.”  
“I don't know what can be done for him in this state but Anders is in your hut as you requested.” Yoren said as he moved aside allowing them to pass and continue on.

“By the Maker!” Anders exclaimed even though he quit believing in the maker long ago and accepted the Avvar’s gods as his own, it was still hard to break hard habits. “What happened to him?!”  
“I found him like this.” Carver responded briskly as he helped Ygritte lay the elf down on her bed. “Sister, we didn't catch anything, we have to go back out for food.”  
Ygritte’s blue green eyes scanned her brother’s face before making a decision. Carver always was all about business.  
“You take the others and go back out. Take my place tonight. He was found on my hunt, it's my responsibility to ensure he lives. My place is here.” She told him with all the authority of a future Thane.  
“Very well.” Carver turned and pushed the heavy furs from the entrance before disappearing back into camp.  
“As Master of the Hunt isn't your place with them?” Anders asked of her slowly as he examined his patient.  
“Normally yes. This is a special circumstance. I should have seen him before he ever passed out in the snow. That was my failure.” Ygritte stared into the fire wanting to say no more.   
“He’s lucky you all were out there. He wouldn't have lasted much longer on his own. In all honesty he shouldn't have lasted this long.” Anders told her placing a hand on her shoulder to try and ease her guilt.  
“What do you mean he shouldn't have lasted this long?” Ygritte replied, her curiosity piqued as she turned from the fire and moved to the bedside. He still lay unmoving, like he wasn't even real.  
“He should be dead Ygritte, long dead in fact. As cold as his skin is he had to have been out there for hours in that snow before you ever found him. He feels like a corpse yet his heart still beats and he still draws breath. I need to actually do a full exam but there appear to be no signs of frostbite either.” The healer moved closer and traced one of the elf’s markings without touching his skin. “Do you know what these are?”  
“I was hoping you would. They seem to be tattoos but they glow and react to touch, like they're some sort of magic.”  
“I think they're what kept him alive.”  
“You're serious?” Ygritte’s red brow rose at the man’s words and he caught her eye.   
“That's the only thing that makes sense.”   
“Can you help him?”   
“I can try.” Anders furrowed his brow as the wheels turned in his head already thinking of what he needed to do. “I need you to leave while I work. You're not a healer and it would be indecent for you to be here as i will undress him.”  
“As you say.” Ygritte replied as she moved to leave the hut. “Come and find me when you're done.”  
“Of course.”

Ygritte left the warmth of her hut back into the cold wind of winter. She received only a few strange looks, no doubt from those who had heard of her discovering in the woods. News travels fast through the hold, it always did. She paid them no mind as she made her way to the far end of the hold where in one quick smooth motion she pulled the bow from her back, notched an arrow, and fired. The arrow soared through the air with a low whistling sound and struck true in the center of a bullseye of one of the targets they had set up. She liked the twack sound it made as it embedded itself in the straw and wood. She took a deep breath before loosing another arrow on its unsuspecting target. To some archery took all their concentration and focus and their shots still missed, it was never like that for Ygritte. She was born with a bow in her hand is what her father always joked about. It was never hard for her, never required all her focus or concentration. She could fire an air as easily as she drew breath and it would find it's mark. Her speed and accuracy had no equal. She would see what she wanted to shoot and without a thought just draw and fire. She found it calming. Anytime she needed to think, she would go out to the outskirts of the hold and shoot at targets and just think without interruption.  
“I thought I'd find you here.” A very familiar voice said as they approached Ygritte from behind watching as she sunk an arrow into yet another bullseye.   
“You say that as if there was any doubt Aveline.” Ygritte says with a smile as she turns to greet her oldest friend. Ygritte and Aveline formed a tight bond as children when Ygritte was only 8 and always getting into trouble, it was Aveline who kept her safe and somewhat in line while still participating in her antics, most of the time anyway. That was seventeen years ago, Ygritte was 25 now and Aveline just over 30 and they were still just as close as ever and Aveline still looked out for her.   
“You heard about my hunt I'm assuming?” Ygritte phrased it as a question but it came out as a statement.  
“The entire hold has heard. Ashildr said you saved his life.”  
Ygritte laughed at that, a dismissive sound. “I didn't do anything but make the decision to bring him here. If anyone saves his life it will be Anders.”   
“That's not the way he will see it. You're the one who made sure he didn't freeze to death.”  
“He can see it however he likes. I'm no hero. If I was, I would have found him sooner.” Ygritte said with a sharp edge to her voice as she notched another arrow and fired almost without looking.   
“You're too hard on yourself. Take it from someone who tries to carry the world on their shoulders, not everything is your responsibility.” Aveline said gently giving her a reassuring smile.   
“It will be when the clan relies on me as they do on my father.”  
“Your father knows what he can do and what he has no control over. He doesn't dwell on what can't be helped and focuses only on what he can do. That's why he's a good Thane.”  
Ygritte paused as she drew her bow thinking on her friends words and her father. A smile lit up her lovely face as the realization hit her that Aveline was indeed correct. She fired the arrow, splitting another right down the center.   
“Thank you Aveline, you always do know what to say.” Ygritte honestly meant it. She felt lighter now knowing that everything isn't on her and never will be, that she could only control what was in her power to control.   
“I like to think so.” The fellow red head said with a laugh. “Do you want to spar? That's actually what I came looking for you for.”  
“Any time.” Ygritte said fingering her bow.  
“I want to test your merit with your blade. We all know how good you are with arrows.” The woman's voice held a challenge, a gauntlet thrown.  
Ygritte smiled a dangerous curve of her full lips that said she did indeed pick up the gauntlet. “Very well.” She slung her bow across her back and pulled two daggers with wicked looking curved blades from their sheathes at her lower back. The daggers had been a gift from Varric, the clan’s contact with the Merchant’s Guild, when she was named Master of the Hunt. They were made of pure dragonborn, the hilt the finest dragonskin, Ygritte knew they must have cost a fortune but Varric would hear nothing of it.   
“No holds barred?” The hunter asked as she adjusted her stance and tossed her head back spending waves of red hair away from her face.  
“No holds barred.” Aveline said as she moved quickly and lunged with her sword, hoping to catch her opponent off guard.   
Ygritte smiled as she stepped aside just as fast as Aveline moved. “You never said we were starting.” Her tone was only mocking disapproval, she really admired her friends cunning as it was something she would have done.  
“I didn't?” Aveline’s voice a mask of innocence. “Now you know.” She said before coming at her again.  
Ygritte parryed catching her friend’s sword against the blades of her daggers and pushing it aside.   
Other of their clan had gathered to watch as the sound of steel against steel or rather dragonbone caught their attention. Fighting one on one was always a special challenge for Ygritte, being a rogue she relied heavily on fast attacks and stealth and the ability to get behind her opponent all of which are much harder when you're only fighting a single person.   
When Aveline swung at her next, she used the bigger woman's momentum against her and as she moved forward, Ygritte moved around and laid a slice against the armor at her friends back before she had time to turn and realize. Speed was Ygritte’s main asset in combat and she was incredibly fast.   
Those in attendance seemed to be choosing sides calling for either one of the red heads as they always did when anyone was sparring. It seemed to push everyone all the harder to train and be the best and that's what they needed. Ygritte barely moved to avoid being knocked down by Aveline’s sweeping leg and in doing so took a glance of her sword into her bicep. She gritted her teeth and crossing her daggers over each other and moved quickly as she sliced to avoid another blow. Both attacks missed their target.   
“Ygritte!” Her mother’s voice. People moved aside as the older woman came upon the scene, her grey hair still wrapped in a tight braid around her head despite the fact that she ran up to them. Both women stopped in their tracks, weapons still held in the air.   
“Shouldn't you be out with your brother and the other hunters?” She asked it as a question but her tone was a reprimand, disapproving.   
Ygritte sheathed her daggers and moved towards her mother. “Carver is fine to lead them tonight.”  
“I'm not questioning his ability, I'm questioning your decision. As Master of the Hunt it's your duty to go out there and lead them.” Ygritte knew that was only half true, the other half of the truth was that her mother always saw it as her responsibility to always look after her brother and sister which is also why she never let Bethany leave the hold. Whether that meant she was more afraid to lose the twins than her eldest or because she trusted in Ygritte’s ability far more than the twins even though Carver is a skilled warrior and Bethany a talente mage, she did not know.   
“Which also makes it my call on when I stay behind. You don't get to make that decision for me no matter how much you may want to. They don't need me out there tonight but I am needed here.” Her voice was firm and resolute as it often was in dealing with her mother. They had their bonding moments and loved each other of course but they also hardly ever saw eye to eye and had different feelings on almost everything.   
As if on cue, Anders came running up to the pair with a strange expression on his face that Ygritte couldn't read despite him being one of her closest friends. “Ygritte I need to talk to you, alone.” His amber eyes moved towards her mother and Aveline who still hung back, no doubt waiting to see if their match would continue.   
“As I was saying.” Her words were directed at her mother as she moved to Anders side and followed him back across the hold.  
She could almost feel her mother's disapproving stare as they moved away. Her mother had never been Anders’ biggest fan, not from the day he was dragged in by their sentries for being so close to their territory. He didn't mean them any harm and explained he was a mage on the run from the Templars and knew of no where else to go after he read that Templars weren't welcome in the Frostbacks as they belonged to the Avvar. Her father, Thane of Hawkehold, had understood and offered him a place among his people as a healer and he was accepted as one of theirs and proven to be very loyal to his new people and very happy, even embracing their gods. Despite all of that and her husband's decision, Cathala could not bring herself to like the young man.   
Anders looked around as he held open the heavy furs that served as the door to Ygritte’s hovel. She had to admit she welcomed the heat of the fire. “I think I know what those markings are.” His voice was quiet so as not to disturb his patient who appeared to not have woken even once.  
Ygritte noticed Anders had removed the elf’s heavy gauntlets and breastplate, both of which now decorated a table in the corner along with the long black cloak he had been wearing and a large greatsword. The elf himself was in her bed, covered with furs and woolen blankets. His arms remained outside of his coverings and she found her ocean eyes traveling to the strange markings on his skin that almost seemed alive. “Not simple tattoos I take it?” Even as she said it she knew the answer. She had felt it out in the forest when she touched him.   
“I'm almost certain they're made of lyrium.”   
“Lyrium?! Anders that's crazy, are you sure?” As she spoke she moved to the side of her bed and looked closely at the pale blue veins that ran the length of his arms and probably more as it was also on his neck and chin. She imagined she saw a faint glow and even small river like movements are she watched.   
“I am a mage from the Circle, I know what lyrium looks like.” Anders soft voice pulled her attention back to the entrance and she rejoined him.  
“Lyrium doesn't go in people, not like that. Isn't that the reason only dwarves can mine it? It kills anyone else who touches it?”   
“That's generally true but in the Circle you hear dark whispers about things the Tevinter magisters do.”   
“You think he's a magister?” Ygritte asked, the word sounding foreign on her tongue.  
Anders barked a laugh that turned into a scoff. “Hardly. Elves aren't even people in Tevinter, they're slaves.” His tone was disgusted, Anders had a softer spot than most people when it came to slavery and oppression. “Its likely he was a slave, property of a magister who did that to him. My guess would be that he was looking for an alternative source of mana, it was tried before by a mage who fought along side King Maric in the war for Fereldan but he did it with a golem.”  
Ygritte eyes blazed in anger. The Avvar don't believe in material possessions, not the way lowlanders do and especially not owning another person. The thought made her sick.   
“Someone did this to him, like he isn't even a person.” She understood but her voice was full of disbelief at how anyone could be so cruel.   
“Believe me, whoever did it didn't see him as a person. Hopefully he gave them hell, it's what they deserve.” Anders cast his gaze to her bed where the man in question continued to lay unmoving.   
“That and more. Shouldn't the Lyrium still be killing him though? Especially being so embedded.” The hunters words were careful and unsure and her eyes darted from Anders to their silent companion hoping he couldn't hear them.   
“Technically he should have died when it was done to him, the fact that he didn't means that whoever did it figured out how to keep it from killing him. I did do a full examine when I was healing him to make sure I didn't miss anything and he's perfectly healthy.”  
“Then why hasn't he woken up yet?”  
“I honestly can't say. It could be that using the Lyrium to keep him alive also drained him and, like a mage who runs out of mana, he needs to rest to regain his strength.” Anders took a long pause and pushed his long blonde locks back from his face before he continued. “Its always possible that while the lyrium kept him alive and prevented him from freezing to death, that he never actually wakes up again.”  
“When will we know?” Ygritte shifted her weight from one foot to the other slowly growing uncomfortably warm with the heat from the fire while she still wore her heavy hunting furs.   
“My guess would be that if he doesn't wake up within a day, he probably won't.”   
Ygritte simply nodded knowing that Anders had done all that was in his power to do, he always did. “Thank you Anders. I'd really like to take off these furs and just get some rest now.”  
“Yes of course, I'll check back in the morning to see if there's been any change. Goodnight.” The mage gave her a brief hug before exiting her hut letting in a cold draft before the furs fell back into place and only the heat from the fire remained.   
Ygritte moved slowly to stand in front of the fire, her feet making no sound against the fur covered wood of her hut. She turned her head to look over her shoulder at the man behind her to ensure that he still slept before she undressed. She cast aside her heavy outer furs and the chainmail she wore beneath it, laying both inside a single chest kept at the foot of her bed. She stood before the fire in only her light weight leathers running her fingers the flames of her hair. She pulled a chair to the side of the bed and sat with her back to the fire, enjoying the warmth on her bare skin. She watched the rise and fall of the elf’s chest for a moment almost doubting that he did truly live before she took a book from the table and began to read. The book had been one that Varric had gifted to her clan when he helped to teach them common tongue, reading, writing, and speaking. It wasn’t long before the warmth of the fire lulled her to sleep and the book fell from her hands to rest against her chest.


	2. Conversations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The strange man awakens and tells Ygritte how he came to be where she found him

It was a sudden groan that awoke her soon after sunrise causing her to bolt up right in her chair and the book to hit the floor with a muted thud. Her eyes fell to rest on her bed where they were met by a pair of bright piercing green eyes holding much confusion.   
“Where am I?” The elf’s voice was deep and gravely, husky even. He looked wearily about the room, almost as if expecting someone to appear and finally deciding that what he saw was all there was, his eyes settled back on her.  
“Hawkehold in the Frostback Mountains, among my clan.” Ygritte told him simply, relieved that he spoke the common tongue and not a language from a region she didn’t know.  
“You must be one of the Avvar then.” He didn’t phrase it as a question but she answered anyway, leaning forward in her chair.  
“I am. My name is Ygritte an Cathala O Hawkehold, daughter to Yoren who is Thane of Hawkehold.”  
“That’s quite the mouthful.” The man replied, his face betraying no emotion as he moved to sit up in the bed and lean against the wall.  
“You may simply call me Ygritte.”   
“I’m Fenris.” He paused a moment to gather his thoughts before he continued. “How did I come to be in this place? I only remember being in a forest.”  
“That you were. My hunters found you unconscious in the forest, face down in the snow. My brother and I carried you back here. The mountains and the forests in the area are dangerous if you don’t know your way or aren’t prepared. We figure that you got exhausted and just couldn’t go on. It’s a miracle you didn’t freeze to death.” She purposely said nothing of what she knew or suspected of his markings, wondering if he would tell her on his own.  
“Unprepared, yes that pretty much sums up how I came to be in the forest. Had to leave Kirkwall in a haste and then Amanthine too. I knew escaping into the mountains was risky and I was low on supplies but it was the only way.” He pulled his knees up closer to his chest and crossed his arms over the top of them.  
“Escape from what?” If Anders was correct in his predictions, she already knew the answer.   
“Slavers. Sent to reclaim a magister’s lost property. Me.” His voice held a level of disgust and anger she didn’t quite know was possible.   
“People are not property.” Ygritte stated her bottom lip poking out in a pout, something that she did unconsciously since she was a child. No matter how much she tried to catch it and stop it, it was just something that happened when she was angry about something.  
He laughed but the sound was hollow and forced. “Try telling that to the magisters.” The final word dripped in hatred.  
“Somehow I feel that would end up with alot of magisters run through with my arrows.” Ygritte pulled her legs into the chair and crossed them resting her arms on her knees.  
This time when Fenris laughed it was genuine. “That is something I would love to see.”  
“Why did you come to the Frostbacks?” Ygritte asked after a beat wanting to learn about the strange man with the lyrium tattoos.  
“I didn’t have much choice. Most of Ferelden still seems to be recovering from the Blight especially Denerim and the south. West was all I had,Orzammar isn’t exactly a place I could blend in but I couldn’t fight the hunters forever, I had to go somewhere and regroup. Figured even if I died in the mountains it would be better than being returned to Danarius in chains.” His eyes bored into her own as he spoke and she saw the truth in what he said.  
“Won’t he just assume you died in the forest?” Ygritte asked.  
“It might give him pause but he won’t believe I’m dead until he gets my corpse. He only wants me for these damn markings anyway and I never asked for them in the first place.”  
“Waste of your body.” Ygritte said without thinking and immediately bit her tongue.   
Fenris laughed and his cheeks colored slightly pink as he averted his eyes from her gaze and seemed to intently watch the book on her floor as the color left his face and he caught her eye again.  
“Stay with us here at Hawkehold.” Ygritte said, her voice sounding resolute as if her mind was made up despite whatever he might say.   
“You’re serious? Why would you do that?” Fenris seemed dumbfounded. It wasn’t as if this was the first time an offer like this had been made to him but when he considered what happened to the last tribe of people who took him in as one of theirs he shuddered to think how another would welcome him even one who didn’t know. It was as if he felt it was written all over his face.  
“It’s what my clan does, what we’ve always done. We take in people who need help and give them a home with us, treat them as one of ours. We only ask that our way of life is respected.” Ygritte spoke with all the authority of a thane and knew that her father would be proud.   
“I would be a danger to your people if I stayed here.” His voice was measured as Ygritte was beginning to assume it almost always was. His eyes held hers steady as they ever had been.   
Ygritte couldn’t help the small laugh that escaped her lips. “Then you don’t know much about the Avvar. We claim the harshest part of Ferelden as our home, perhaps the harshest in all of Thedas. We face more dangers on a regular basis than anything posed by humans, especially those unfamiliar with these mountains.” She leaned forward again, dropping her legs back to the floor and crossing her arms over her chest. “You would be safe here with us. You would be one of our people and we would all protect you and fight with you without hesitation. That’s what it means to be an Avvar of Hawkehold.”  
Fenris wasn’t quite sure how to take her words but read the truth of them plain as day upon her lovely face. “Very well. I will stay but I don’t want to be a burden, give me something to do so that I might be able to aid you.”  
“I will speak with my father at once and we will-” Ygritte was cut off by Anders entrance into her hut the suddenness of his arrival surprising her as he never entered unannounced, no one did.   
“Forgive me but I heard voices and I had to know.” Anders moved quickly into the room and stopped at the foot of the bed noticing the wary way that his patient looked at him.  
Ygritte made no move to get up from her chair but did turn her body to include Anders. “Fenris, this is Anders. He’s the one who healed you for lack of a better word. Although it was more like checking up on you.”  
Fenris’s jaw set in a firm line. “He’s a mage?” While he suspected as much the fact that Anders no longer wore robes and instead dressed in the leather and furs of the Avvar made him a bit unsure.  
“I am.” Anders replied, moving a little closer to make sure that his patient was okay and then moving back just as quickly when the elf jerked away from him.   
Fenris grimaced. “I don’t trust magic.”   
Ygritte seemed confused by the man’s sudden coldness, not that he was exactly warm before but he wasn’t outright cold either. One look to her friend told her that he wasn’t confused in the least, he knew exactly why his patient felt this way.   
“Very well. I see that you are well and doing fine. I’ll leave you be.” Anders responded kindly before giving Ygritte a nod and leaving her hut just as quickly as he had come.   
Fenris seemed to relax somewhat once he was gone, his shoulders sagging slightly as the tension was released.   
“I didn’t know you felt that way or I wouldn’t have had him examine you.”  
“You couldn’t have known.” Fenris replied simply looking away from her. Ygritte said nothing for a time and instead bent and picked up the discarded book from the floor and set it aside on the table.   
“You should know that we have other mages in among our people, not just Anders.” Ygritte said the words slowly, unsure of how their new guest would take the news.  
He said nothing immediately, instead opting for a simple sound of acknowledgement. “It would be stupid of me to think I could avoid magic wherever I ended up. I’ll stay and simply be weary of them.”  
Ygritte stood from her chair and pulled on light weight furs over her leathers and donned her cloak as well. “In that case, I shall go speak to my father on your behalf. You’re more than welcome to move about my hut if you wish.” Before Fenris could voice his surprise at residing in her hut, she was already gone out into the hold leaving only the briefest chill in her wake as she exited. 

The cold air of the mountains felt bracing against her skin as she left the hut and it was a feeling that she welcomed. The Avvar not only resided in the Frostbacks where it was almost always cold but they welcomed the cold and had grown accustomed to it as a people, most of them not even feeling truly cold even in winter.  
“Sister is it true?” Bethany ran up beside her, her cheeks pink and her black hair tumbling down her shoulders. Ygritte was the only one of her siblings to inherit the red hair that ran in her mother’s blood.  
“Is what true?” Ygritte asked simply, not slowing her stride as her younger sister fell into step beside her.   
“The man that you found in the forest! Is he actually covered in lyrium?” Bethany whispered the last part, looking around to make sure they weren’t overheard.  
Ygritte couldn’t help but turn and catch her sister’s chocolate eyes with her own ocean ones. “Where did you hear that?” Her voice betraying nothing as she spoke, always the master at concealing her feelings or intentions.  
“Anders came to tell Merrill.”  
Ygritte nodded, naturally he would tell Merrill as she was the Augur after all, basically the First Enchanter of the Avvar people. It was something she needed to know even though the Avvar didn’t know as much about lyrium as the circle mages. Bethany was Merrill’s apprentice, she was being trained to be the next Augur and not simply a shaman, as the Avvar called their mages.   
“Of course she would need to know. Have you seen father?” Ygritte asked, not wanting to say more about Fenris as she didn’t know much about anyway and a part of her liked being the only one to know him at the moment.   
“He’s most likely in the gathering hall.” Bethany replied, referring to the large central structure of the hold where the thane’s throne resided along with many tables and benches for meals and other social gatherings, it also contained a large fire pit for warming so many people. “I think mother said he was meeting with some of the elders.”  
Ygritte moved towards the center of the hold, her sister still accompanying her despite her not saying anything. She could tell that Bethany was wanting to ask her more about the strange man she had rescued in the forest but didn’t know where to start which was just fine as Ygritte probably couldn’t answer most of her questions anyway and didn’t feel like talking about it before first speaking with their father.   
“Sister, you shouldn’t go in there. It seemed important from what mother said about it.” Bethany said, her light voice holding a sense of timidness that only came with mention of important clan matters.  
“What I have to say is important as well and since father wants me to take over as thane one day, I don’t think he’ll mind if I interrupt and sit in.” Ygritte responded as she grabbed the heavy bear pelt that served as a door into the hall and entered, noting how Bethany didn’t follow her and she wasn’t surprised. Her sister was a very sweet person and always felt that the clan’s inner workings were above her and something that she shouldn’t really be involved in.   
“Daughter.” Yoren said in greeting as he stood from the throne when she entered the room, a smile on his face.  
“Father.” Ygritte responded with a bow of her head that spilled flaming hair from her shoulders, formal in front of the elders as was custom when addressing the thane in his assembly chambers even though she was his family.   
“And what of the man found last night?” One of the clan members asked, ignoring Ygritte’s entrance into the room and bringing the attention back to clan matters.   
“What of him? He was hurt and needed us as have others.” Her father’s voice was firm, his words resolute as always.   
“That wasn’t what I meant. I simply meant what will happen to him once he is healed.” The same man continued as Ygritte moved silently around the perimeter of the room, coming to stand beside her father.   
“When that comes, it comes.” Yoren replied simply, putting his foot down on the matter leaving nothing more to be discussed. At this Ygritte leaned into her father’s throne and whispered in his ear. “You may go, I have other things I need to attend to.”   
“But-” One of the other elders protested, clearly not finished with whatever business he was wanting to discuss.  
“Not today. I need to speak to my daughter.” Yoren stood from the throne and waved his hand, the clan elders vacanting the benches they had just occupied and exiting the hall back into the rest of the hold.   
“He’s awake now, as of this morning.” Ygritte began once the men had left leaving only father and daughter standing in the vastness of the meeting hall. “I’ve talked with him.” She walked beside her to one of the tables so they could sit and talk in a more personal arrangement.  
“How is he?” Yoren Hawkeholde asked remembering the state of him when his own children had carried him in the night before.  
“Better than Anders expected. He seemed like it hadn’t happened at all.”  
“Strange.” He replied simply, not having had the chance to speak with the healer himself or with Merrill for that matter.   
“Not as strange as the lyrium in his skin, like veins.” Ygritte said softly. “Anders think that accounts for him surviving in the snow and his fast recovering.”  
“Lyrium? How interesting. Have you spoken with Merrill about it?” He inquired.  
“No but Anders has.”  
“I must go see her myself then and see what she thinks of it all.” The thane said, rubbing his dark beard.  
“That isn’t quite why I came here to talk with you. I want you to find a place for him among our clan.” Ygritte said to him, holding his eyes so he would know that she was serious.  
“You know that I will daughter, but might I ask if there is a reason?”  
“I offered him to stay here with us and he accepted. Father he was a slave in Tevinter. He ran away and that’s how he found himself in the forest, he’s still being hunted by their slavers and they will take him back if they get the chance. At least with us he has a chance to be free and safe from them.”   
Yoren reached across the table and took his daughters cheek in his large hand. “You have the biggest heart dear one. Even when you don’t show it, i know that it’s still there. When he wishes, I will see him and place him among us.”  
“Thank you father.” Ygritte stood from the table and leaned across it placing a kiss on his stubbly cheek.   
“There is no need to thank me. I would have done it regardless of you having asked me.” Yoren also stood and gestured towards the furs that served as a door and they began to walk that way together.   
“I know, but still.” Ygritte squinted against the sun on the snow as her father parted the furs for her to walk through. “I’ll bring him to see you once he feels up to leaving the bed.”  
Yoren nodded to her as she turned to walk back to her own hut.


End file.
